Fear and Comfort in the Age of Instability

By Holly Scheer

Watching the news right now is not a good way to feel comfortable and safe. From the highly contentious election we are hurtling towards to the recent violence and deaths, the images presented to us are not happy ones to ponder before we fall asleep.

There are large questions our government is trying to grapple with—how do we compassionately address a massive refugee crisis while keeping our own safe, do we continue to engage in the growing military conflicts, how do we bolster our still stumbling economy and deal with the mess that is American healthcare… and more.

Don’t worry. I’m not here to talk politics to you. I’m not going to get all partisan and try to slide some plug for a party or ideology in.  There are enough voices yelling at us everywhere with what to think, how to vote, dire warnings about the certain doom if we don’t just put the right people in the right place *right now*.

Except… that’s not how this works. Our doom isn’t in our hands. The ultimate control for what happens in the close confines of our homes and community to the broader outside world is in the hands of someone with a far more encompassing interest in creation.

God’s plans for our world are incomprehensible. I don’t understand and won’t pretend to explain how all of this is going to end. I don’t understand why children suffer, women are brutalized, and men massacred. There is so much evil, so much pain, so much grief. All of creation is groaning with us, sisters.

I don’t need to understand, though. That’s not my place in life. I can take what reasonable steps are available to me in this earthly life to help and protect my children, to support my husband, to assist my neighbors both local and far away. I can and do try to make prudent decisions to be a good citizen, to encourage my community to act justly and with mercy to those in desperate need of bodily assistance and care, and my government to defend us and keep the peace. I am, along with my husband, raising children that know about current events and what we hope will happen… and that the reality sometimes doesn’t match. Often doesn’t match.

And I can pray. I can sit in church and listen to the promises of Jesus and know that not a single person is outside the notice of our Lord.

Things are not out of God’s control. They never will be.

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

Photo credit to pavel ahmed. Some rights reserved.